Sreelekha Mitra

Mitra passed ICSE from Auxilium Convent School.[10] She completed her graduation at Jaypuriya College, with English literature as her honours subject. She went to pursue masters in English literature at Calcutta University but quit it when she got a job at Taj Hotel, Kolkata.[11]

While working at Taj Hotel, Kolkata, Mitra was spotted by a director who offered her to play a role in a Bengali TV series.[12] Her potential was spotted and she was proposed to play the female lead in the 1995 Bengali TV series Trishna.[5] Her role as Manasi in the TV series earned her popularity. At a fast pace she carried on with prominent roles in Bengali films. Her first film alongside Prosenjit Chatterjee was Samadhan (1997) directed by Swapan Saha.[13] The film also stars Rituparna Sengupta as the ladylove of the character played by Chatterjee. Mitra played the role of the sister of the character played by Chatterjee. She often reminisced that, back in 1990s, she was always told to play the sister to Chatterjee even though she had potential to play the female lead. She bagged the female lead opposite Chatterjee in Sagarbanya (1998). While shooting for the film, she had an accident, for which she had to lose significant roles in several films.[12] She featured in Basu Chatterjee's Hothat Brishti (1998) where she portrayed Priti. The film came out as a major success at the box office.[6] In her 2020 vlog Let's Expose Face It, she claimed that she never had any significant elevation in her career even after the huge success of Hothat Brishti (1998). She exposed that she had to lose a number of central female roles since she never showed any interest to be the ladylove of Prosenjit Chatterjee who, then had a monopolistic foothold in Bengali film industry.[12][14] Till 2001, she had to play the second fiddle in the films she was offered. She featured as the female lead opposite Prosenjit Chatterjee in Rabi Kinagi's Annadata (2002).[15] She garnered wider applause for her role in Pratibimba, a Bengali TV series broadcast on Alpha Bangla between 2002-04. The series was a major commercial success running 700 episodes.[16]

Mitra appeared in a Coca-Cola advertisement with Aamir Khan.[17][18] She featured in Arghyakamal Mitra's Jonmodin (2005). In 2006, she came to wider attention for her role in Bappaditya Bandopadhyay's much acclaimed film Kantatar, where she essayed the character of Sudha, an illegal immigrant who moves from one man to another and from one religion to another in quest of love. The film earned her the Anandalok Award for Best Actress in 2006[19] and BFJA Award for Best Actress in 2007.[20][21] She featured in Manoj Michigan's Bengali drama film Hello Kolkata (2008).[22] She featured as Raka opposite Indraneil Sengupta in Kamaleswar Mukherjee's drama film Uro Chithi (2011).[23] It won critical favour for her performance in Uro Chithi (2011).[24] She was awarded the Zee Bangla Gourav Samman for Best Supporting Actress for her role in the film. She featured as Madhumita Sanyal in Anik Dutta's Bhooter Bhabishyat (2012).[25] In 2014, she was nominated for the Filmfare Award East for Best Supporting Actress for her role in Ashchorjyo Prodeep.[26][27]

She featured in Arindam Sil's Swade Ahlade (2015).[28] In 2015, she collaborated with Raja Dasgupta in his big screen directorial debut Choukaath, where she essayed the role of Debi who meets an accident, loses her consciousness and gets taken to the hospital by an unknown passer-by. When she regains her consciousness, she cannot recall what happened to her after she met the accident. Eventually, she comes to know that her husband is suspicious that she has been raped after the accident and is pregnant due to the rapist. Mitra was well acclaimed for her performance in the film. Times of India described her performance as "understated and dignified in her pain".[29]

She accepted the role of Bimala in Reema Mukherjee's directorial debut Ardhangini Ek Ardhsatya (2016) based on Tagore's much celebrated novel Ghare Baire. The film met neither critical nor commercial success.[30] Mitra eschewed the lead in Dupur Thakurpo: Season 2.[31][32]

Mitra featured as Poripishi in Soukarya Ghoshal's Rainbow Jelly (2018).[33] Her performance in the film won her critical favour.[34][35]

She featured in Anshumaan Banerjee's Baro Second (2020) where she played Srijita alongside Silajit portraying Debanjan, Srijita's husband and the male protagonist.[36]

Her directorial venture is Bitter Half.[37] She will be seen in The Inside Job, a film directed by Shieladitya Moulik.[38]

While working in Teen Satyi, a Bengali telefilm for ETV Bangla, she met Siladitya Sanyal who was the assistant director of the telefilm.[39] Sanyal works as a professor in SRFTI. They married on 20 November 2003.[40] They separated in 2013.[41][42] They have a daughter named Oishi Sanyal born on 7 December 2005.[43]

On 17 June 2020, Mitra uploaded a vlog Let's Expose Face It on her YouTube channel Aami Sreelekha claiming that she never had a significant elevation in her career even after the remarkable success of Hothat Brishti (1998) since she never reciprocated to the love proposal of Prosenjit Chatterjee who then had a monopolistic foothold in Bengali cinema.[12] She said that Rituparna Sengupta rode the crest of her career so easily as she had a love affair with Chatterjee in the late 1990s.[44] The volg stirred Media. Chatterjee never responded to her statement. Sengupta opened up that she had not worked with Chatterjee since 2001 till 2015 but had managed to last in the Bengali film industry.

• Sreelekha Mitra at IMDb